I was unaware of the fact that Robert Ryan's father was a Democratic Ward Committeeman and an adherent of the Kelly-Nash political machine. The new biography mentions these facts.

Big Bill Thompson gets all of the negative press, but Chicagoans really doubled down on municipal corruption with the Kelly-Nash gang. Both Edward Kelly and Patrick Nash made millions on sewer construction projects. The Internal Revenue Service simply permitted Kelly to pay his back taxes with penalties after he was audited. No one bothered to question why he amassed so much wealth over and above his salary when he ran the Sanitary District. Kelly also headed the South Park Commission which constructed Grant Park Stadium (Soldier Field) with numerous cost overruns. Los Angeles constructed its larger Coliseum using the same architectural plans on a bigger scale with lower costs.